A Life-skills-based HIV/AIDS Prevention Education for Rural Students of Primary Schools in China:What Changed? What Have We Learned?

Objective To evaluate a four-hour life-skills-based HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum among 5th grade students in rural primary schools of Hainan province.Methods The study included two stages.Stage one （September 2006-May 2007） was a pre-post-quasi experimental design;a total of 2 413 students aged 9 to 14 years from fifth grade classes of nine primary schools completed a baseline survey （1 720 students were in the intervention group,693 in the control group）,and over 98% of them took part in a short survey.The experimental curriculum was provided to the intervention group.At stage two （September 2008）,a cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 6 923 students in 7th grade classes of eight middle schools in the same study sites.There were 1 437 students in the intervention group when the curriculum was conducted.Results Students tended to score higher in areas of HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitudes,if they were younger than average,lived in the county seat,had access to the internet,and their parents had completed higher levels of education.Path analysis showed that,after controlling for characteristics such as family and community factors,the total effects of curriculum on knowledge in the short-term model increased remarkably compared with the baseline,and maintained major contributions to knowledge in the mid-term model.The positive effect of knowledge on attitudes was significantly improved in the short-term model as well.Conclusion A life-skills based curriculum can improve HIV/AIDS related knowledge and self-perceived level of life-skills among primary school students in rural areas in a short time,and these positive effects can still be observed at least 2 years post participation in the curriculum.

Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prevention and Treatment of AIDS

Objective:To review the research progress of using Chinese medicine ginseng to prevent and treat AIDS in China.Methods:Based on the method of TCM syndrome differentiation,Chinese medical researchers divided AIDS into four types:heat toxin stagnation type,Qi and blood deficiency type,stasis and internal resistance type,and Qi and Yin injury type.Results:The therapeutic effects of the compound preparation of traditional Chinese medicine were significant,such as Aikang capsule,Tangcao tablet,Wuweilingqi capsule,Aining granule,compound Sanhuang powder,etc.Astragalus,licorice,honeysuckle,Scutellaria,bupleurum,Salvia miltiorrhiza,Viola,Hedyotis diffusa and other 8 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine have been proved to have anti HIV effect.Conclusion:Among the 27 kinds of Chinese medicine ginseng,Andrographis paniculata,Viola,Arnebia,Arctium lappa,Sophora flavescens,honeysuckle,Guanzhong,Prunella,Coptis,Wolfberry,Wedelia and epimedium have been proved to have the effect of preventing HIV replication.

Study of Peer-led Intervention on Reproductive Health Education and AIDS Prevention in Joint Venture Factories in Kunshan County

Objective To disseminate the knowledge of contraception and STD/AIDS prevention to unmarried young adults.Methods A peer-led 8-month intervention on reproductive health promotion and STD/ AIDS preve,tion was conducted in joint venture factories in Kunshan County through existing famity planning service network. A quasi-experimental design was used. Results The contraception. STD/AIDS related knowledge and attitudes improved significantly, and the use of condom also increased significantly in experimental group after the intervention. No such changes occurred in control group. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the peer-led education is an effective approvach of expanding reproductive health and AIDS prevention services to unmarried young adults in the joint venture factories.

Evaluating the needs of AIDS prevention in high-prevalent areas of HIV infection in Henan province, China

Objective: To investigate the knowledge, attitude, behavior, and needs related to AIDS prevention and condom use in order to provide scientific basis for integrating AIDS prevention into regular family planning services (FPS).Method: From October to November 2003, we adopted the method of descriptive epidemiological study. We investigated 800 women in two townships (Wulong and Huangpu) by using cluster sampling.Results: All 800 respondents, 48. 8% of them knew that China was in a phase of rapid increase of AIDS epidemic, 62. 6% could correctly describe "three ways of AIDS transmission:sexual, blood and vertical (mother to infant)", 55.9 % believed that HIV could not definitely infect them, more than 50% thought that oral contraceptive pill could protect them from HIV infection; 41.5% did not know how to use condom correctly, 13.6% misconceived that condom could cause male sexual dysfunction, 14.9% considered that one condom could be used many times (repeated use),10.0% of the couples had ever used condom before, 3. 13% of the couples used condoms consistently and correctly. Among the women with a history of selling blood,63.9% of them sold blood more than two times, and only 2 women had ever taken HIV test.93.6% of all respondents were willing to participate in free counseling of HIV infection. 65.3 %appreciated the counseling offered by family planning service (FPS) providers. 59. 1% considered that FPS center would be the best place to provide HIV counseling in county. 94.3% were willing to participate in a free HIV testing. 52.0% considered that it would be more appropriate for FPS center to conduct the first screening HIV testing. 77. 6% hoped to know about the correct method of using condom and 46.5 % hoped to master relevant skills of condom use through participating in workshop. 87.6 % hoped to take part in health education activities related to AIDS prevention. 51.1% considered that FPS providers would be the best candidates to carry out the health education of AIDS prevention.Conclusion: Even in the high-prevalent areas of AIDS epidemic, women's perception on the situation of AIDS epidemic in China is not appropriate. Women know little about the three ways of AIDS transmission. They were lacking the awareness related to risk of infecting HIV. They did not know which contraceptive method could protect themselves from HIV infection. They also had misunderstanding and misconception regarding the condom use. Such factors mentioned above resulted in a low rate of condom use and an extremely low rate of consistent use of condom.The voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) was not sufficiently adopted in the high-risk population. The needs of AIDS prevention were great and unmet in the high HIV prevalent areas. People urgently hope that FPS network could play an important role in AIDS prevention.

An Evidence-Based Management Approach to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria

Objectives: This paper seeks to examine the history of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria while presenting a clear picture of some of the issues that exist in service delivery. Lastly, this paper explores how an evidence-based management approach offers an effective set of tools to HIV/AIDS organizations. Methods: Content analysis and a qualitative desk review of the literature. Results: Findings from this paper reveal that through the use of evidence-based management, preconceived notions can be challenged so as to yield a diversity of thought and a more people-centered approach to public health delivery. This paper also shows that in the Nigerian setting, an evidence-based management framework can be a transformative tool in ensuring that key populations can receive critical care and treatment in the long run despite the uncertainty that might exist when it comes to funding and resources. Conclusions: Evidence-based management is a rigorous framework that can be used for understanding how a multitude of factors can position an organization to achieve its theory of change, which in turn can lead to sustainable impact in the long run. Incorporating the use of evidence in everyday organizational behavior involves not only looking at the manner in which data is aggregated, but also how it is disseminated. In order to ensure that the evidence is not manipulated, nonprofit organizations are often viewed as being best suited for collecting evidence since they are not heavily plagued by systemic corruption and political tides, compared to their government counterparts.

China to spread AIDS prevention knowledge to children

The Chinese government departments have decided to jointly publicize prevention knowledge of HIV/AIDS among children and youngsters, according to the Ministry of Health on Dec. 28, 2006.

THE SYMPOSIUM ON PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF AIDS

A Symposium on Prevention and Treatment of AIDS was held in Beijing, China from 15 to 21 January 1995. This symposium was sponsored by The World AIDS Foundation and the Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The specialists for AIDS from U.S.A., Australia, and China contributed some good lectures on AIDS. The main advances in studies on AIDS are briefly summarized.

Doctor Strives to Prevent and Treat AIDS

ONE day in 1989, Dr. Xu Lianzhi received laboratory test result from a man over 50, which clearly showed that he had the AIDS virus. This man was Dr. Xu’s first patient who was infected with the AIDS virus, and was also the first case of AIDS discovered during a routine health check in China. Dr. Xu is the head physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Beijing You An Hospital, a member of the Beijing